Importing Airfoils into AutoCAD

Airfoil data points may be obtained from a number of websites. The University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign has a large airfoil database (well over 1000) located at http://www.ae.uiuc.edu/m-selig/ads/coord_database.html The airfoil software Profili2 also has a large collection of airfoils in addition to an airfoil recognition feature that will compare the image or *.dat points file to its database and find the closest match. This program may be downloaded at http://www.profili2.com From either location, the airfoil is saved in a simple text file that lists the airfoil name, upper x-y coordinates, and lower x-y coordinates. For example, the N63212 airfoil *.dat file taken from the UIUC website looks like Figure 1 when opened with Notepad. Ultimately, these data points need to be arranged such that the points describe a spline that starts at the upper trailing edge (typically 1,0 or 100,0), then wraps around the leading edge (typically 0,0), and then ends at the lower trailing edge (typically 1,0 or 100,0). The reason for this is once the spline is formed the leading edge will be rounded and the trailing edge will be sharp. Additionally, the coordinates must be separated by a comma (e.g. 1.0000,0.0000 for the first point) to be imported into AutoCAD. Fortunately, both of these tasks are easy accomplished using Excel.

Figure 1: n63212.dat file

With Excel open, go to File>Open and then direct the prompt to your *.dat file, or in this case n63212.dat. Then click Next to get to the screen shown in Figure 2. There are several options that will separate the points into columns. These options are Tab, Semicolon, Comma, Space, or Other. Check whichever one is necessary so that the x and y coordinates are separated into columns (as shown in Figure 2). Click Finish. Delete any of the header rows (or columns) that contain the airfoil name or any other superfluous information so that the first coordinate pair is in the first row and occupies columns A and B. As you scroll down Figure 2: Importing into Excel to about half way down the coordinates list, you might notice a break. If header information exists here also delete those rows. If the coordinates are already listed from upper trailing edge to leading edge to lower trailing edge, then skip the next paragraph.

The coordinates above the midline describe the upper surface from leading edge to trailing edge and the coordinates below the midline describe the lower surface from leading edge to trailing edge. As stated previously, it is desired to have the upper surface points listed from trailing edge to leading edgeso the upper
Figure 3: Sorting Upper Coordinates surface coordinates must be reversed. To do this, Excels Sort feature is used. Select the upper coordinate and open the Sort window, located at Data>Sort. Then from the drop down menus, select to sort by Column A, sort on Values, and order from Largest to Smallest, as shown in Figure 3. Click OK to finish and verify that the upper surface coordinates now go from the trailing edge to leading edge. Finally, delete the middle empty rows and extra set of zeros so that the coordinates are in the form,

1.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 1.0000 0.0000 Once the points are in the correct format, go to File>Save As>Other Formats, then save the file as a CSV (Comma Delimited) file (click Yes for any warnings that pop up). Open this CSV file with a text editor, such as Notepad. The file should look like the file shown in Figure 4. Importing these points into AutoCAD is now very simple. First select and copy all the coordinates in the CSV file. Then, with AutoCAD open, type in spl or spline, press Enter, then copy the coordinates into the command line (near the bottom of AutoCAD window), press Enter 3 more times, and then youre done! The last 3 Enter commands are (1) to tell AutoCAD you are done inputting points, (2) let the first point have a natural slope, and (3) let the last point have a natural slope.

Figure 4: Formatted Airfoil Coordinates